The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has recently sucked up most of my mental and physical energy. As a Houstonian, I am truly proud of the generous response that our city has had for the evacuees. Our local city and county officials have been able to organize the enormous relief efforts that the federal officials were either too incompetent or too timid to render. An amazing coalition of businesses, civic groups, faith-based communities, and individuals has come together to care for our new neighbors. On a personal note, I am volunteering a few hours a week at a small church-based shelter, and I am part of a team that will provide meals for the residents of that shelter until everyone finds a new home.

When I get past my awe of nature's power and my anger at the inadequate, unorganized rescue efforts, I am most intrigued by how this situation is impacting our schools. 3403 evacuated students have enrolled in Houston ISD schools, and over 15,000 are in the greater Houston area. At last week's portfolio group meeting, Michaelann mentioned that she had a few new students in her art classes and that she could sense some resentment brewing. Her concern was that she and her students had worked hard on building community by setting norms together and engaging in regular teambuilding activities: How could she smoothly bring the newcomers into the classroom community? I thought, "Oh my goodness, if somebody as skillful as Michaelann is at building learning communities is worried about this--just imagine what most teachers are facing as they integrate a huge new population into their classes!"

Sure enough, today's Houston Chronicle reported this story--"Tensions overflow at Jones High School: 5 teens sent to jail after fight erupts between local students and evacuees."

Tim and I met this morning to sketch out a new direction for CFG Support in Houston. Instead of hosting several discreet CFG Coach Clinics throughout the year, we'd like to facilitate the formation of more CFG's for coaches. I know that being part of the K-16 CFG, which is made up of experienced coaches and facilitators, has been invaluable for me. I couldn't do my job of supporting others if I didn't have my own, dear critical friends to lean on. I want more coaches to have that experience of being in a CFG that addresses their needs as coaches.

As new people are trained, we'd like for them to be able to answer these two questions before they leave the seminar:
What group of people will you be coaching and nurturing with your new CFG coaching skills?
What group of people will be coaching and nurturing you in your role as CFG coach?

Just imagine how much CFG coaching could improve if all coaches were part of groups that modeled good CFG practices over the long term and pushed each member to continuously improve.

My dream would be to have dozens of these groups across the city. They could be organized around feeder patterns, districts, or coaching roles. For example, all the literacy coaches in Houston ISD used to meet weekly to share work. We'll probably pilot it with just one or two groups to see what works and what kinds of support we need to give.